Suction cleaner



y 1941- CH. SPARKLIN SUCTION CLEANER Filed May 22, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 1'IIII'IIIIIIIIIIII 1 n1 fz erzzfin Czar/e6 L27% %W July 22, 1941." c sp2,250,279

' SUCTION CLEANER Filed May 22, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 ff #r III" lll l y1941 c. H. SPARKLIN SUCTIQN CLEANER Filed May 22, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Patented July 22, 19 41 S PATENT OFFICE I suo'rroN CLEANER.

Charles H. Sparklin, Chicago, Ill.. assignor to Birtman ElectricCompany, Chicago, 11]., a corv poration of Illinois Application May 22,1939. Serial No. 215.091

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in suction cleaners and moreespecially to an automatic brush feed therefor.

The invention relates particularly to the type I of cleaner employing arotating brush. This brush is ordinarily located within the nozzle and,in any event, adjacent to the nozzle. During the operation of thecleaner the bristles slowly wear so that after continued use the brushmay be too high above the surface being cleaned unless.

, improperly. timed or performed. The principal feature of my inventionis the provision of automatic means actuated by operation of the cleanerfor feeding the brush downwardly at a rate to compensate for the wear ofthe brush. Since the feed is actuated by operation of the'cleaner itwill be seen that it will always feed the brush downwardly at a ratecommensurate with the rate of wear of. the brush. 3

Another feature of my invention is the provision of means'for resettingthe brush feed so that upon installation of a new brush the feedingmeans can be quickly and easily reset to start over again.

Other features and advantages of my invention will appear morefully as Iproceed with my specification.

In that form of device embodying the features of my invention shown inthe accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a bottom plan view, Fig. 2 is a viewtaken as indicated by the line 2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a verticalsectional view taken transversely through the nozzle, Fig. 4 is a viewtaken as indicated by the line l of Fig. 3, Fig. 5 is a view taken asindicated by the line 5 of Fig. 3, Fig. 6 is a view takenas indicated bythe line 8 of Fig. 7, Fig. '7 is a view taken as indicated by the line Iof Fig. 6, Fig. 8 is a view taken as indicated by the line 8 of Fig. 7,and Fig. 9 is a view taken as indicated by the line 9 of Fig. 6.

In thedrawings, the complete suction cleaner is not shown as that isunnecessary to illustrate the present invention. It is to be understoodthat the invention may be used on any kind of suction cleaner and isparticularly adapted for use on the conventional vacuum or suctioncleaner embodying a nozzle, suction producing means, and ordinarily adust collecting bag.

As here shown i0 indicates the nozzle of a sucshown as located just backof the nozzle.

tion cleaner and. H, Ii the lips thereof adapted to be brought intocontact with or close to the material being cleaned.

Inside of the nozzle is a conventional rotatable brush I! with thebristles It; said brush being rotated in a well known manner by means ofthe belt ll driven from suitable means (not shown). The ends of thebrush are provided with pivots or trunnions l5 mounted in the bearingblocks l6 mounted in the brush carriers ll. i8 may indicate an adjustingscrew in each brush carrier to position the mounting of the bearingblocks l8 therein.

Means are provided for automatically and slowly feeding the brushcarriers l'l downwardly to compensate'for wear of the bristles. Suchfeedingmeans is mounted in the casing 20 here In the present instancethe casing 20 is attached to the fan casing It by the screws 22, 22.

23 indicates a reciprocable shoe or drag mem-- the nozzle with the feedmechanism is similar I shall describe but one. 30 indicates a polygonalshaft pivoted in the nozzle walls at 3|, 8|. This shaft carries a crank32 at the inner end. 33 indicates an arm mounted on the shaft having 9.depending extension 84 connected by the screw 35 to the brush carrierit. It is to be understood that there is a similar arrangement at eachend of the nozzle. The rocking of the shafts 30 will therefore lower thebrush holders IT. The connection of the extension 34 with the screw isloose enough so that the downward movement of the extension 84 and thebrush carrier I! on arcs will not cause binding. The

shai ts 30 are connected by the arms 32 to the links 36 which are movedby the mechanism in the .case 20 when the operating member 28 isreciprocated.

.The operating member 23 is attached by two links 40 and 4! to thevertical shaft l2. 43 indicates a spiral spring connected at its upperend to an extension a on'the arm 40 and at its lower'end to the member28. Through a parallelogram action the spring 43 serves to partiallybrush holders.

vcounterbalance the weight of the member 23 so 64 connected by the link45 to the arm 06 piv-'- oted on the shaft $1. The arm 46 carries the dog1 adapted to engage the teeth 48 on the wheel 49 so that reciprocationsof the dog will rotate the wheel 49 in a counter-clockwise direction asviewed in Fig. 6. Each complete reciprocation of the dog I41 willadvance the wheel one tooth. Reverse rotation of the wheel 49' isprevented by the dog 59 pressed upwardly by the spring i. The wheel 49carries an eccentric 52 embraced by the eccentric strap 53 on the arm 54which carries the dog 55 engaging the teeth 56 on the wheel 51. It willbe seen that each rota tion of the wheel 49 will advance the wheel 51one tooth. Likewise, the wheel 57 contains a similar eccentric operatingthrough similar mechanism so that each complete rotation of the wheel 5iwill rotate the wheel 58 one tooth and likewise this wheel drives thewheel 59. The wheels 59, 5! are mounted on the shaft I60. The wheel 59carries a pinion l6! operating the gear segment H62 on the arm I63 whichis pivoted on the shaft 9? and is provided with a cross member carryingthe pins 60 and 61 to which the inner ends of the links 36 areconnected.

downwardly about $4; of an inch for every 400 hours of use. It may beroughly estimated accordingly that this much use will ordinarily wearthe bristles about of an inch.

If a new brush is installed the feed mechanism may be easily and quicklyreset by means of the member 10. Pressing this member upwardly opcratescam H to release the wheel 59. The cam ll engages the pin 9| on the dog12 and releases it from the wheel 59. Cam I3 also engages pin 82 on dog80 and releases it from the wheel 59.

. Wheel 59 when thus released is free to rotate With the brush in itsuppermost position the pins and M are substantially one above the other.As the member 863 is slowly rocked the pins 60 and 65 are moved toward ahorizontal position to extend the links 96, 36 to lower the It will beseen that the feed mechanism is very slow. For example, the total brushfeed may be only approximately 2; inch and the feed mechanism may be soconstructed that approximately 500,000 complete reciprocations of. themember 23 are required to feed the brush downw dly of an inch. In soadjusting the mechanism it may be roughly estimated in ordinaryoperation the cleaner is given about 20 complete forward and backwardmovements per minute. At this rate, the brush would befed reversely tobe reset. The tension of the belt I! on the brush will then pull thebrush up to starting position and again retract the links 36, 36.

While there are shown and described certain embodiments of theinvention, it is to be understood that it is capable of manymodifications.

Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdisclosed in the appended claims, in which it is intended to claim allnovelty inherent in the invention as broadly as permissible, in view ofthe prior art.

What I claim as new, and -desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A suction cleaner, including: a nozzle; a brush associated with thenozzle and downwardly .movable only with respect to the same; and

means actuated by reciprocations of the cleaner in use for cleaning, forprogressively and positively feeding said brush downwardly with respectto said nozzle a predetermined increment for each reciprocation.

2. A suction cleaner, including: a nozzle; a brush'associated with thenozzle and downwardly movable only with respect to the same: and

